Convergences between Rorschach and Symbolic Psychotherapy in Patients with Neurotic, Psychotic and Borderline Disorder

Abstract

Through symbolic expression, whether in language or in the production of images, one has access to the structural unity of a subject. Thus, the objective was to explore the productions made by six patients diagnosed as psychotic, neurotic personality and borderline organization, between 21 and 30 years old, through Rorschach and Directed Dreaming from the Symbolic Psychotherapy approach. A qualitative design was used. In those diagnosed as Neurosis, the Rorschach had responses rich in adjectives with a logical and ordered sequence, buffering content, and coherent speech. The directed reverie showed cohesion in images, congruent staging, coherence between image and experience while in those diagnosed as psychosis, the Rorschach showed incoherent detail, contamination, disturbing content. Directed dreaming revealed image instability, disparity of representations with short sequences, incoherence between image and experience. Finally, in those with borderline disorders, the Rorschach presented responses with a relatively ordered sequence, simple language loaded with sinister or disturbing content. Directed dreaming appeared with bizarre, shifting or disturbing images without consistency. The theoretical convergence between Rorschach and Directed dreaming is found in the concepts of reflex and cogitative hallucination, respectively.